Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 55.4: Mere is older than 97% of UK towns
Set against 39% across England’s towns, 26% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Mere. Households with dependent children: 17% of the total. More residents who describe themselves as White British than in 92% of UK towns: 96%. At the 2021 Census Mere was home to 2,808 people in 1,346 households.
What the Census says about Mere’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Mere’s residents are under 55.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 35% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Mere: 35% of residents are 65 or over, above 97% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 70–74: 8.9% of residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. On the census count, 7.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Mere, 55.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
2.7% of adults are full-time students, below 99% of UK towns
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the ONS’s NS-SEC classes), and where residents lived a year earlier.
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Address a year before the Census
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Mere sits close to the norm on residents who moved in within the year: 11%, about the same as across England’s towns. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 95% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Wiltshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Against a figure of 4.3% across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Mere comes in at 2.8%. For Mere, the census puts one-person households at 35%.
In Mere, 35% of households live in a detached house, more than in 67% of UK towns
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households without a car or van in Mere comes in at 14%. The usual figure: just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. 23% of households live in a terraced house. On households in flats, Mere sits lower than 52% of UK towns: 10%.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 99% of UK towns: 100%
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2021.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 25%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
6.2% of those born abroad arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns. To put it in context, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. For Mere, the census puts residents born outside the UK at 4.8%.
In Mere, 53% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 72% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 96% of Mere · Wiltshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Nearly two in five residents said they have no religion, against 37% across England’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.1%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Indian (0.2%). The wider picture: 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
Married adults and civil partners: 51%, a higher share than 71% of UK towns
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 82. For married adults and civil partners, the comparison across England’s towns is 44%. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are common here: 10%, more than in two thirds of UK towns.
31% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 31% of adults in Mere (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 17% (England’s towns: 18%).
Ranked by age, 26th oldest of 514 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 20.6 in Keele to 63.1 in West Chiltington. Nearest to Mere in age: Seaton Sluice (55.4), Nettleham (55.4), Tywardreath (55.7) and Tywyn (55.9).
Every neighbour of Mere has a younger population
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mere | 2,808 | — | 55.4 | 35% | 17% |
| Gillingham | 11,009 | 3.6 mi | 48.5 | 27% | 24% |
| Motcombe | 1,366 | 4.7 mi | 52.7 | 28% | 22% |
| Shaftesbury | 9,163 | 6.7 mi | 44.2 | 24% | 26% |
| Wincanton | 6,744 | 6.8 mi | 41.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Tisbury | 2,274 | 8.1 mi | 52.9 | 31% | 20% |
| Bruton | 2,816 | 8.3 mi | 42.3 | 20% | 29% |
| Warminster | 18,018 | 8.5 mi | 46 | 24% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Wiltshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Wiltshire (or England), summed the same way as Mere’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. The ONS adds small random changes to Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Mere’s residents
What is the population of Mere?
The 2021 Census counted 2,808 people in Mere’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Mere?
The median age was 55.4 at the 2021 Census, older than 97% of UK towns. 7.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 35% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Mere?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Wiltshire’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Mere?
39% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.9% didn’t answer.
Is Mere good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Mere’s schools page.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area (TS002, TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS008, TS015, TS017, TS019, TS021, TS029, TS030, TS039, TS044, TS045, TS062, TS067). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.